• jj4211@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Walmart is garbage, but the claim they can eat 30% tariffs because they made billions is by itself not a credible argument.

    They made 16 billion in profit, on the back of 650 billion in revenue. Percentage wise that’s 2.5%. The acquisition cost of the goods is a fraction of their operating costs, but if cost of acquiring the goods was even only 10% of their revenue, the tariffs are enough to push them red.

    If he is right then I would expect a nice analysis of the financials of Walmart showing this is feasible, rather than a hollow rant.

    Alternatively, if it were as he stated earlier temporary pain like medicine to fix the manufacturing imbalance, I would want a more coherent strategy. As it stands, businesses can’t plan around his tariff policy as it shifts day to day without warning. If they did bring home manufacturing at significant expense, they lose because Trump gives in and competition that didn’t bother has an advantage.